28 March, 2004
Teckla, Steven Brust (214 pp, MMPB, 1987)
Book three in the ongoing Vlad Taltos series. In terms of series-internal chronology, this one takes place shortly after Jhereg. It's a major departure from the first two books: Jhereg and Yendi are bouncy, fun, caper-like novels about a guy who kills people for money. This one, on the other hand, is a story about a guy who's asking himself some serious questions about his life (and the fact that he kills people for money), as his marriage falls apart.
Cawti and Vlad got together in the first place (see Yendi) because they were in similar situations: they grew up getting abused by Dragaerans, went into the assassination business in order to get paid for killing Dragaerans, having become part of the "business side" of the Jhereg, they were outsiders in both Easterner society and Dragaeran society, and thus lonely. It's even the case that they both begin to question the morality of their profession and grow dissatisfied with their neither-Eastern-nor-Dragaeran lifestyle. But, that is also where the problem starts. Cawti resolves her conflict by going completely over to the Easterner side, and joins up with a group of quasi-Marxist "revolutionists" who believe they can harness the power of the Easterner and Teckla underclasses to overthrow the Empire and "break the Cycle," without ever considering whether or not that is a wise goal. Vlad, the ultimate individualist, disapproves of the group, its philosophy, and its tactics, and is terrified that Cawti's involvement with them will get her killed. It doesn't get any better from there.
Teckla, I think, is best viewed as a tragedy (in the literary sense). As the fortune-teller in the prologue says to Vlad, "As far as I can see, m'lord, it doesn't matter. What's going to happen doesn't depend on any action you're going to take." And that's exactly the case. The breakdown of Vlad and Cawti's relationship follows naturally from their fundamental personalities and world views, and there's not a thing either of them can do to change what happens.
I find it amusing that three of the four heroes of the Paarfi novels appear in here: two by reference, one in person. Khaavren, of course, is the leader of the Phoenix Guards, and is mentioned by name. There's also the story told to Vlad by the revolutionary Teckla, Paresh, involving the Lyorn Duke of Arylle and a female Dzurlord sorcerer who he visits. Almost certainly, these two figures became Aerich and Tazendra.
This is the first time I've re-read Teckla since reading all the more recent Dragaera books (Vlad and Paarfi). Those books shine an entirely different light on Kelley's revolutionary goals, and what it would mean for the Empire to be overthrown. The Empire is not just a geopolitical entity. It's easy communication, travel, health care, public sanitation, engineering--all of which are accomplished through sorcery. Losing the Empire--and thus losing the Orb--is equivalent to what would happen to our society if we suddenly lost the ability to generate electricity. Furthermore, the Empire (and Orb, and Cycle) seems to serve some sort of metaphysical function, which preserves/guards the world against external threats. So, when Kelley talks about "breaking the Cycle," he's treading on very dubious ground.